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Cancelling a charter: what happens to the deposit?
Short answer
How much of your payment is kept is decided by the cancellation scale in the charter contract, not by the reason you give. Cancelling early, or naming a replacement charterer, usually costs far less.
A charter is booked a long way ahead, and it is paid in two steps: part of the charter fee when the booking is confirmed, the balance a few weeks before the start of the week. Six months can sit between those two dates, and a slipped disc, a new job or a crew that falls apart will all happen inside them. The cancellation then meets a contract that settled the question long ago, and rarely in the charterer's favour.
What decides the outcome is the cancellation scale: the table in the contract that sets out how much of the fee is kept depending on how close the start date is. The nearer the date, the more is kept. The reason for the cancellation almost never matters, because the base loses the same peak season week whether the charterer is ill or has simply changed plans. Two things do change the arithmetic. The first is a replacement charterer, which many contracts expressly allow: you name someone who takes over the booking on the same terms, and often only an administration fee remains. The second is travel cancellation insurance bought at the time of booking. It is a separate product, sold by a travel insurer, and it carries the cancellation costs only for the reasons listed in its own wording.
In practice: read the cancellation scale before the money leaves your account, not afterwards. Cancel as early as you can, in writing and dated, because the day the notice arrives is the day that counts. Ask in the same message whether a replacement charterer is accepted, and offer one if you can find one. Keep the booking confirmation, the payment records and the whole exchange of messages. And if you buy travel cancellation insurance, check before you sign which reasons it accepts and whether it names the whole crew or only the person who booked.
Worth remembering
The reason
almost never moves the cancellation scale
The date
decides how much is kept
The scale is fixed before you book. Read it after you cancel and you are negotiating from the weaker side.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
Will I get the deposit back if I cancel?
Rarely in full. How much is kept follows the cancellation scale in the charter contract and depends on how far ahead of the start date you cancel, not on the reason you give for cancelling.
Does naming a replacement charterer help?
Often, yes. Many charter contracts let you name a person who takes over the booking on the same terms. Where that is accepted, an administration fee is frequently all that remains payable.
What if the base cancels the charter instead?
Then the question reverses: if the booked yacht cannot be supplied, it becomes a matter of an equivalent replacement or a refund. The contract sets out what applies, often within a stated period.
Which law applies to a charter contract abroad?
Usually the law of the country where the base is established, with the courts of that country. It is written into the contract and is one of the clauses worth reading before signing.
Related
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